Making a Real Difference

Since 2014, Bunker Labs has been on a mission to help veterans and military spouses realize their entrepreneurial dreams.

Real Stories

Conversations with cohort members fundamentally changed the way I was thinking about what I wanted out of my business and my experience in it. These connections inspired me to make some new moves.

Yolanda Clarke

Powder River Industries, CEOcircle

Thank you Bunker Labs for the incredible mentoring, support, connections, and ecosystem. Being in the Veterans in Residence program was precisely what my business needed to take flight!

James A. Samuel Jr.

AnjelTech, Veterans in Residence

Bunker Labs not only provided me with a pathway to success through their resources and connections, but gave me the confidence to relentlessly scale my business.

Andrew Arbogast

Arbo's Cheese Dip, Veterans in Residence & CEOcircle

Real Impact

Each year at Bunker Labs, we help over a thousand Veteran and Military Spouse entrepreneurs through our free programs. We provide a community of peers they can lean on for support, motivation, and solutions to the challenges their businesses face.

Our programming works. Bunker Labs has collectively helped entrepreneurs:

  • Add over 4,250 jobs to the economy
  • Generate over $823 million in revenue
  • Raise $244 million in startup capital

Real Impact

Each year at Bunker Labs, we help over a thousand Veteran and Military Spouse entrepreneurs through our free programs. We provide a community of peers they can lean on for support, motivation, and solutions to the challenges their businesses face.

Our programming works. Bunker Labs has collectively helped entrepreneurs:

  • Add over 4,250 jobs to the economy
  • Generate over $823 million in revenue
  • Raise $244 million in startup capital
For all the good we’re doing, it’s still an uphill battle to make entrepreneurship more accessible to those Veterans and Military Spouses who want it. In the wake of World War II, nearly half of Veterans went on to open businesses upon coming home. Only 5.6% do so today, despite nearly a quarter of Veterans expressing interest in starting a business.

Real Challenges

There are many barriers to entrepreneurship Veterans and Military Spouses face today, among them:

 

    • Denied Capital Access: Veterans are denied financing more often, and when they do get financing they’re less likely to get financed for the full amount sought.
    • Social Barriers: 75% of Veteran entrepreneurs report a lack of business contacts, mentors, and key connections being a major hurdle to launching and growing their business, exacerbated by frequent relocation demanded by military life, something Military Spouses experience just as frequently.
    • Isolation: Veterans and Military Spouses have unique experiences that many feel makes it harder to merge into traditional entrepreneurial networks. This isolating effect can exacerbate mental health challenges and make entrepreneurship harder.

Bunker Labs Commitment

Bunker Labs is committed to transparency, inclusivity, and authenticity. We seek to create a sense of belonging and goodwill in every relationship we form, whether with entrepreneurs, small business owners, community partners, or funders.

Guidestar awards Gold Seals of Transparency to nonprofit organizations that publicly share financial data, leadership and demographic information, program information, and more.

Our Impact

Learn about the impact Bunker Labs has on Veteran and Military Spouse entrepreneurs in communities across the country.

Our National Partners